Just a Grrl Blog Post!! TV Edition

Hey there!

With the 19th anniversary of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer last week, I thought it would be a great chance to talk about some of my favourite female led television shows. Buffy was an important show for a lot of people, showing young girls that they could be the best Vampire slayers in town – or the best at whatever they wanted to be. So what else should you be watching for some inspiring ladies?

Orphan Black

It’s hard to really go into what this show is about without doing a MASSIVE spoiler. It was sold to me as a badass sci-fi show about a woman that sees someone that looks EXACTLY like her jump in front of a train. Intrigued, Sarah picks up this women’s fancy shoes and ID and legs it to her apartment. She unravels her life, and four seasons later we’re all still here. It’s pretty hectic, and lead actress Tatiana Maslany is given the chance to really show her acting range in the show, which gives nods to all different ways of life: gay, straight, bi, trans, extra conservative, establishment, Middle Canada, religious, scientific etc. and loads more. At its core, the show is a group of women working together, taking back what’s theirs from the establishment. A++ do recommend. Find it on Netflix and Stan, and season 4 will be on SBS 2 in April (probably).

Orange Is the New Black

I’m yet to meet someone that has watched this that doesn’t love it. Set in Litchfield Prison, it is loosely based on the book Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison by Piper Kerman. Our protagonist, Piper Chapman spends more than a year in prison (spoiler, but I mean there’s been three seasons and it keeps getting renewed) and the story follows her time there. Over the course of the show we get to know Piper and her cellmates via a series of flashbacks to past lives and the story of how they arrived in Litchfield. The ladies of Litchfield rely on each other to get through their time in prison, and the lengths that some will go to in order to protect those that they care about. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend you immediately go to Netflix and stream seasons 1-3, and season 4 will be out on the 17th of June. Not much longer to wait.

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Aside from having the catchiest opening song I’ve heard in a long time, this Netflix comedy from Tina Fey just makes me happy. It begins with a group of women that have been hoodwinked by a crazy cult leader that the world has ended and they are lone survivors. 15 years later, they are released and unleashed upon the world. Kimmy decided to really live life to the fullest now that she is able to, and moves to New York. The story is one of hope and overcoming your fears, and doing so with a massive smile. Plus how does Kimmy get through something truly terrible? 10 seconds at a time. Check out season 1 on Netflix now, and season 2 will be released on 15th of April, with a third in the works.

Xena: Warrior Princess

Xena, Warrior Princess has just been rebooted, like everything that was good about our youth. The memories of watching Xena and Gabrielle getting it done definitely informed some of my tastes for later years: super cool ladies, comic book-esque violence and mythology. Interestingly, the show this time around will acknowledge the true nature of the relationship between Xena and Gabrielle; that they were in fact lovers. Which seemed pretty obvious to me the first time around, even as a little tacker, but it is very important that it is acknowledged, and normalised. Get your eyeballs on the reboot later this year.

Jessica Jones

Based on the comic book character, Krysten Ritter is Inhuman detective Jessica Jones, adopted sister to child star Patsy (now Trish) Walker with a generally dour outlook on life. Building on the Marvel Television Universe already created in Daredevil, Jessica is deeply traumatised by an incident involving Dr. Kilgrave. We’re introduced to her, her world, the effect that Dr Kilgrave has had on her life and how she moves past it. There is also some great character development from Trish, and it is so refreshing to see two ladies headlining some superhero goodness. Season 1 is on Netflix, with season 2 already given the go-ahead.